Menu

Guiding Readers to Great Reads

2014 Debut Author Bash: Sarah Bromley

by thebookbeacon

The Book Beacon is proud to participate in the annual Debut Authors Bash organized by YA Reads. We are highlighting Sarah Bromley and her YA Gothic paranormal novel, A Murder of Magpies. Following the book summary is a giveaway and a game of 20 Questions with the main character, Vayda.

A MURDER OF MAGPIES

Winter in Black Orchard, Wisconsin, is long and dark, and sixteen-year-old VaydaSilver prays the snow will keep the truth and secrecy of the last two years buried. Hiding from the past with her father and twin brother, Vayda knows the rules: never return to the town of her mother’s murder, and never work a Mind Game where someone might see.

No one can know the toll emotions take on Vayda, how emotion becomes energy in her hands, or how she can’t control the destruction she causes. But it’s not long before her powers can no longer be contained. The truth is dangerously close to being exposed, placing Vayda and her family at risk.

Until someone quiets the chaos inside her.

Unwanted. That’s all Ward Ravenscroft has ever been. To cope, he numbs the pain of rejection by denying himself emotions of any kind. Yet Vayda stirs something in him. He can’t explain the hold she has on him–inspiring him with both hope and fear. He claims not to scare easily, except he doesn’t know what her powers can do. Yet.

A MURDER OF MAGPIES swag plus a B&N gift card. US only.

Mmm, a white chocolate latte with a shot of peppermint. And tea. I’d have one of those carrying cases because I’d be picking up drinks for everybody else, too.

2. What kind of shoes are you wearing?

Ratty, blue Chucks.

3.What is your most treasured possession?

My scrapbook. It has drawings of my mother by my father and all the shiny things that catch my eye when I go walking through the woods behind my house.

4.What is on your nightstand right now?

Empty teacups and a handful of guitar picks I swiped from Ward.

5. If you could spend the day with someone you admire (living, dead or imaginary), who would it be?

Grandpa Bengalo, my mother’s father, so that he could tell me why she was the way she was.

6. What would you like it to say on your tombstone?

“She made light in the dark.”

7. What impression do you make when people first meet you?

That’s I’m weird. It’s because I’m shy and very quiet, and I’m usually with my brother Jonah, which means there’s usually trouble close.

8.Favorite color?

That color right between lavender and gray, where things are hazy.

9. If you had a free day with no responsibilities, what would you do?

Such days don’t exist. But if they did, I would lounge around with my scrapbook, some paper, and lots of colored pencils, probably play some guitar with Ward … Ward would be there, definitely.

10. Favorite place you have traveled?

I loved Montana when I lived there. The skies at dawn were beautiful.

11. What do you like best about yourself?

I’m a very caring person, very loyal to the people I love.

12. What do you like least about yourself?

I can be paranoid, but hey, I come by it honestly.

13. Favorite genre of music?

Indie rock and folk music.

14. Favorite subject in school?

I’ve always enjoyed history and learning about the past to learn from the past.

15. Righty or Lefty?

I’m a righty, but let’s just say that both my hands are really strong.

16. Biggest Pet Peeve?

Judgemental bullshit from other people.

17. What makes you laugh out loud?

Ward. He has this dry, sarcastic sense of humor that comes out when I’m not expecting it.

18. What would your last meal be if you were on Death Row?

I would want a fantastic piece of bread with really good butter. It sounds so simple, but I really hope they’d let me make the bread. It’s something I do to relax.

19. Have any pets?

I don’t right now, but Ward has a fifteen-year-old schnauzer named Bernadette. We’ve had a barn cat in the past, and then, of course, there are the birds that get stuck in the attic. But those aren’t really pets.

20. Do you keep a diary or journal?

I’d say my scrapbook is about as close as I have to a diary. It’s mostly pictures and scraps and strange things I find that trigger memories for me, but I don’t like to have much written down. Too much evidence.

Sarah Bromley lives near St. Louis with her husband, three children, and three dogs. She likes the quiet hours of morning when she can drink coffee in peace, stare into the woods behind her house, and wonder what monsters live there. When she’s not writing or wrangling small children, she can be found volunteering at a stable for disabled riders.

You can find her on Twitter and at her blog. Her adult works are under the name Sarah John Bromley. She is represented by Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.